Intel a Bear on PCs, a Bull on Flash

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Despite a modest uptick in its latest quarter, Intel continues to believe PCs will decline by high-single digits this year. However it is bullish on flash memory, especially its 3D NAND and 3D XPoint chips which will start shipping by the end of the year.

Interestingly, Apple played no part in Intel’s still-modest outlook for 2016, despite widespread rumors it won at least some business away from Qualcomm for baseband modems in the iPhone7. Separately, Intel plans to roll out 14nm server chips this year, 14nm FPGAs next year and will start ramping a 10nm process late this fall.

Intel reported a modest increase in revenues and a big drop in profits for its second fiscal quarter with revenues for PCs down 3% but up 5% for servers compared to the same period last year. The company forecast a slightly higher than seasonal third quarter but said it continues to expect overall 2016 revenue growth in mid-single digits.